On The Air: One Perspective On What Works On ESPN’s "First Take"

By Jim Williams, Media Correspondent

Crawford (l) And Jacobson On Set During Inaugural Show In May '07

I must admit that I want to like ESPN’s “First Take,” the “sports light” mixture of interviews and highlights co-hosted by Dana Jacobson and Jay Crawford on ESPN2 from 10:00am-12:00pm ET, Monday through Friday. The show is a re-tooled version of “Cold Pizza,” debuted in May ’07 and was moved from New York to Bristol so the program could take advantage of ESPN’s on-campus talent. “First Take” receives a C+ with much more room to grow if the network is willing to fix a few things. “First Take” starts out well enough. Jacobson and Crawford do an entertaining opening segment addressing the key issues of the day in a well-paced and informative style. However, about 10 minutes into the two-hour broadcast, the show comes to a screeching halt during “1st and 10,” a recurring feature throughout “First Take” that teams Skip Bayless with rotating guest analysts.

The full review can be found at SportsBusinessDaily.com.For the full review, please go to SportsBusinessDaily.com.